Former Wootton teacher sentenced for cocaine distribution

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A former Thomas S. Wootton teacher was sentenced Thursday to six months in prison for distributing cocaine to a student, according to a spokeswoman for the Montgomery County State's Attorney's office.

Theresa Cunningham Duarte, 45, of Rockville, was arrested in August 2008 and charged with two counts of distribution of a controlled dangerous substance and two counts of contributing to conditions of a child. She pleaded guilty to distribution of a controlled dangerous substance in May, according to court records.

Along with her prison sentence, Duarte will also face three years of supervised probation, according to State's Attorney spokeswoman Emily White.

Duarte was hired as a full-time English teacher at the school in July 2004 after serving as a substitute teacher at Albert Einstein High School in Kensington during the 2003-2004 school year, according to a police statement. Duarte resigned from Wootton after the 2007-2008 school year, police said.

Before her 2008 arrest, detectives with the county police's Family Crimes Division were contacted by Child Protective Services and told that Duarte had distributed cocaine to Wootton students from her home in the 1000 block of Brice Road, police said.

According to District Court charging documents, Duarte told police she kept cocaine in the bathroom at her home, and that she had given cocaine to two Wootton students. Duarte told police that she had given the drugs to one of the students, identified only as Student B, just before the end of the 2007-2008 school year, when she was still employed by Montgomery County Public Schools, according to the documents. She also said she gave the drugs to the other student, identified only Student A, about a week after she gave cocaine to Student B. Both of the students used the drugs in Duarte's home, according to the documents.

A search of Duarte's home revealed a straw, a folded paper and small amounts of a substance police believed to be cocaine, according to the documents.

Wootton principal Michael Doran told The Gazette last year that Duarte had worked full time at Wootton before cutting back to working part time as a yearbook advisor during the 2007-2008 school year. She resigned due to scheduling constraints, he said.

Aria Warrick, a 2007 graduate of Wootton and Gaithersburg resident, told The Gazette last year that Duarte had a close relationship with students.

"She related very well to students unlike other teachers at Wootton, and went out of her way to make students feel comfortable," Warrick said. "But honestly this comes at a total surprise."